Engineering Biology Access to Infrastructure Pilot

Description Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will invest up to £5 million to scale engineering biology innovations through this competition. This competition is part of UKRI’s Engineering Biology Programme and funded by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST). The funding total is subject to a sufficient number of high-quality applications being received. The aim of this competition is to support projects that enable scaling of lab proven engineering biology innovations by: • enabling SMEs to scale innovations to pilot or demonstration scale • facilitating affordable access to specialised UK engineering biology scale-up capabilities in the public and private sectors, such as catapults, bio-foundries and CMOs • validating technical and economic viability of scaling engineering biology innovations in commercially relevant settings Your project must focus on developing or applying engineering biology solutions to one or more of the following themes: • Health • Agriculture and Food • Chemicals and materials • Low Carbon fuels • Waste and environment • Cross cutting technology, service development It is your responsibility to ensure you submit your application to the correct competition for your project. You will not be able to transfer your application and it will not be sent for assessment if it is out of scope. In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it. Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have up to 20% chance of success. We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny. We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief . We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information. Project size Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £200,000 and £750,000. Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). Your proposal The aim of this competition is to support projects that enable scaling of lab proven engineering biology innovations by: • enabling SMEs to scale innovations to pilot or demonstration scale • facilitating affordable access to specialised UK engineering biology scale-up capabilities in the public and private sectors, such as catapults, bio-foundries and CMOs • ⁠validating technical and economic viability of scaling engineering biology innovations in commercially relevant settings To be considered within scope for this competition, the primary innovation and competitive advantage underpinning the project must arise from or enable engineering biology. For the purpose of this competition engineering biology is defined as the purposeful engineering of biological systems. These will create new or enhanced functions that do not occur naturally, or that cannot be achieved efficiently through conventional approaches. This includes the design, modification or creation of organisms, cells, genetic circuits, enzymes, proteins or other biomolecular systems that exhibit novel or enhanced functionality. Your proposal must clearly: • demonstrate how the innovation focuses on engineering biology as defined in this brief • demonstrate how the innovation fits with one or more of the specific themes for the competition • deliver robust validation work packages to demonstrate commercial viability, which may include a techno-economic assessment (TEA) and impact validation • evidence the robustness of the innovation at lab-scale and it’s readiness to scale • explain how the proposed work will lead to growth of your company

Who can apply Your project Your project must: • have total costs between £200,000 and £750,000 • last up to 24 months • start by 1 February 2027 • end by 31 January 2029 • include either as a partner or subcontractor a UK registered organisation with the facilities or capabilities to support technology scale up and validation at scale for engineering biology innovations Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK. Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date. You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs . If your project’s total costs outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to support@iuk.ukri.org at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will then decide whether to approve your request. If your project does not meet our criteria and you have not requested justification approval, your application will be made ineligible and it will not be sent for assessment. Lead organisation To lead a collaborative project or work alone your organisation must be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME). More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules . Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone. Project team To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must have the facilities or capabilities to support technology scale up and validation at scale for Engineering Biology innovations. Your organisation must be one of the following UK registered: • business of any size • academic institution • charity • not for profit • public sector organisation • research and technology organisation (RTO) Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in the IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs and completing their Project Impact questions in the application. To be an eligible collaboration: • the lead and at least one other organisation must request funding • you must explain why you’re collaborating and how the collaboration will work Non-funded partners Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK. Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs. Subcontractors Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK. You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total eligible project costs. Number of applications An eligible organisation can only lead on one application. Any further applications by the same organisation as lead will be made ineligible. An eligible organisation that is leading an application can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications and if not leading, can collaborate in any number of applications. Sanctions This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions . For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups . Use of animals in research and innovation Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance. Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation . Any projects selected for funding which invol

Before you start You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start. Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure: • that all the information provided in the application is correct • your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria • all sections of the application are marked as complete • if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs) You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline. What we ask you The application is split into four sections: • Project details. • Application questions. • Finances. • Project Impact. Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). 1. Project details This section provides background for your application and is not scored. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers. Application team Decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application. Application details Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Research category Select the type of research you will undertake. Project summary Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. Public description Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. Your answer can be up to 250 words long. Scope Describe how your project: • fits the scope of the competition • can be considered Engineering Biology as defined in this brief If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. This section provides background for your application and is not scored. Do not include any website addresses (URLs) in your answers. Application team Decide which organisations will work with you